In a prepared statement, Wilson says "the trading velocity in Portland, coupled with invigorated institutional interest in the CBD, made this a good time for us to sell our interest in this project. That being said, we continue to actively seek Portland investments as we believe that the underlying market fundamentals have only just begun to move upwards."

Improvements made to the building during Broadreach's ownership included significant upgrades to HVAC systems and renovation of the building's 28,000 sf of ground floor retail. During its tenure, the building's vacancy dropped from 8% to about 5%.

Unico officials aren't saying exactly how much of a stake it now owns, only that the company retains a minority stake in the asset as well as the long-term management and leasing assignments. Unico's Portland portfolio manager Brian Pearce tells GlobeSt.com that it retains a stake in the building not only because it likes the asset but also because it is required to as part of its original acquisition agreement with US Bancorp.

As part of the recapitalization, new securitized debt was placed on the property. "The old debt in today's market wasn't very good," Pearce says. "We still maintain an ownership stake; we're just taking advantage of lower cap rates and more favorable debt."

Unico plans to reinvest its upside from the transaction, hopefully the lion's share of it in Portland," Pearce says. "This is a growth market for Unico."

Some of the money will flow toward its $90-million, two-block development in the Pearl District. Block One will hold a mixed-use building anchored by a Safeway grocery store and topped with 82,000 sf of office space. Block Two will have 20,000 sf of ground-floor retail topped by 200-plus market-rate apartment units. The timeline calls for the Safeway building to be delivered in early 2008 and the apartment building in mid-2008.

US Bancorp Tower is the largest of three Portland CBD office buildings to trade hands this month. Earlier this month, Chicago-based Rreef paid about $70 million or $220 per sf to acquire One Main Place, a 20-story, 315,000-sf Downtown office building that is located near the waterfront. Earlier this week, Ashforth-Pacific Inc. paid $48 million or $200 per sf for One Pacific Square, a 13-story, 240,000-sf office building at the north end of the Downtown core. The US Bancorp Tower recapitalization priced the building at about $255 per sf. All three buildings were built in the early 1980s.

The only significant office building sale in the city that has crested $300 per sf occurred in November, when Ashforth Pacific and GE Asset Management paid $308 per sf for ODS Tower, a 24-story, 400,000-sf Downtown office building. That building, however, was built in 1999 and was 99% leased at higher rental rates, Pearce says.

"I don't think anybody expected US Bancorp Tower would go for $300 per sf because ODS is a much newer asset and US Bancorp Tower is such a large asset," Pearce says. "It's 10% of the class A market here; that's a huge amount of eggs to be putting in one basket."